Police lead community clean up

Lothian and Borders Police and their partners at the City of Edinburgh Council are launching a “community clean-up” day in the capital’s city centre.

Community Officers will join staff from the council’s Neighbourhood Team and local residents and businesses to tackle graffiti in and around the Bread Street area of the city on Wednesday 14th September.

Young people involved with the Prince’s Trust will also participate in removing paint and ink from walls, litter picking and street sweeping.

Through engagement with the local community, police and council identified Bread Street as a target for antisocial behaviour and a number of actions have already been taken to address the issue.

Officers have compared graffiti in the area to the “tags” of known vandals and four people have currently been reported to the Procurator Fiscal.

Others suspected of being responsible for vandalism in the area are the subject of ongoing enquiries.

Two men, aged 28 and 32, have also been reported to the Fiscal for allegedly selling spray paint to underage youths.

The local community is now urged to get behind the campaign and help keep Bread Street tidy and free from antisocial behaviour.

Safer Neighbourhood Team Sergeant Simon Acheson said: “Last year, Lothian and Borders Police launched their community commitment pledge, which encourages the public to identify issues affecting their local area and bring them to the attention of police.

“Our engagement with the local residents and businesses in Bread Street identified graffiti and antisocial behaviour as real concern and officers along with their partners in the council have taken significant steps to address this.

“The clean-up day is an excellent opportunity for the community to unite and improve their local surroundings. We are extremely grateful to all those who have agreed to participate and anyone else wanting to pitch in is welcome to come along.

“A number of individuals have already been reported to the Procurator Fiscal and we continue to carry out enquiries to identify anyone else responsible for crime in the area.

“We continue to work alongside our partners and the public to make our communities cleaner and safer places to live, work and visit.

“In doing so, our main focus is on preventing crime and antisocial behaviour in the first place rather than having to deal with the consequences afterwards.”

Councillor Paul Edie, Community Safety Leader said: “Graffiti often blights the lives of local people and the clean-up day is a great way of getting everyone together to improve the neighbourhood.

“The community identified graffiti as an issue and I am sure today’s action will make a real difference to the area.”